Answer: Dear friend, child abuse occurs when a parent, guardian or caregiver mistreats or neglects a child, resulting in injury, or significant emotional or psychological harm, or serious risk of harm to the child. The challenge we have in The ...

Children from the capital?s Hoan Kiem District raise their hands to speak during a forum on child protection and HIV infection. ? VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc HA NOI ? The fact that Viet Nam lacks an accurate definition for child abuse is one of ...

A 32-year-old overseas Filipino worker is back home after enduring a year of physical abuse from her cruel employer in Dubai. Francy Adurru could hardly talk and was obviously in pain when interviewed by ABS-CBN. Reports said Adurru?s appearance no ...

A teenage boy, numbed by what he described as emotional and physical abuse by his parents, was walking home one winter night from a friend's house when he began fantasizing about a life without them. Finding a loaded handgun at his house, the 15-year ...

Mary Runge of Palm Bay, Fla. found herself without a job and her savings depleted. So last month the single mom went knocking on the doors of local charities for help. The 47-year-old mother of three was urged to tell the girl at the local abuse ...

Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha warned Billie Wayne Coble to stay away from his sister, Karen, less than a month before Coble ambushed and shot Vicha with his own gun, killed his parents and then kidnapped Karen a second time, a retired police detective ...

Eliett Jarquin's voice was heard again. After Miami police say she was strangled by her husband, her corpse bound with gym weights and dumped from the Seven Mile Bridge, detectives discovered a handwritten, double-sided, two-page letter penned in ...

SCOTTISH men who are attacked by their violent partners are being left with nowhere to turn, failed by an under-resourced system, victims and campaigners have told The Scotsman. There is no tailored facility for male victims of domestic abuse north ...

Jonathan and Linda Sohus disappeared in 1985 Photo: AP Jonathan and Linda Sohus disappeared from their home in the wealthy Los Angeles suburb of San Marino 23 years ago. At the time the man calling himself Clark Rockefeller, who was arrested earlier ...

Once a month I follow Springfield Avenue from my home in Maplewood to downtown Newark, heading to the Essex County Family Court where I serve as a Court Advocate Volunteer for the Rachel Coalition . As a volunteer for the Rachel Coalition, a ...

Click 'Additional Materials' for downloadable sample chapters

"I think that the authors do a tremendous job of integrating findings from a very large body of research and presenting their analysis in a reader-friendly way. The text is particularly strong in orienting the reader to the research issues, including the current state of knowledge in the area. I have found the text to be very well done and extremely useful in providing students with an introduction to the very broad field of family violence. I have recommended the text to colleagues and students. I applaud the authors for this work and thank them for creating such a comprehensive text."
--Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba

"This book includes an impressive overview of different types of violence and organizes a large amount of research material to make it accessible to the upper-level undergraduate. Students will easily follow the organization of topics, themes, and questions, and long chapters include several intermediary summaries, which is good.”
--Jean Giles-Sims, Texas Christian University

A thoroughly updated and expanded new edition of the bestseller, Family Violence Across the Lifespan, Second Edition helps students achieve a deeper understanding of the methodology, etiology, prevalence, treatment, and prevention of family violence. Research from experts in the fields of psychology, sociology, criminology, and social welfare is woven together to provide broad coverage of current viewpoints and debates within the field of domestic violence study. Practice and policy considerations provide new and welcome perspectives, and in addition, informal interviews with leading authorities in the field of violence add depth and clarity to the topics. Organized chronologically, chapters cover child physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; courtship violence and date rape; spouse abuse, battered women, and batterers; and elder abuse.

Key Features

* Boxed inserts focusing on current controversies
* Case studies bring the focus from research and societal analysis down to the individual
* Intermediate chapter summaries provide students a concise synopsis of research-based discussions
* Interviews with experts provide students a glimpse of the variety of research interests, philosophies, and training typical of many of the professionals working in the field
* Discussion questions at the end of each chapter

New to This Edition

* A comprehensive glossary of key terms used in the field
* End-of-chapter sections on social policy and practice issues
* New chapters entitled Child Maltreatment (Chapter 6), Key Issues in the Field of Child Maltreatment (Chapter 7), and What Can I Do to Help? (Chapter 13)
* A new section on the abuse of disabled persons
* Greatly expanded coverage on intimate violence between same sex or unwed partners, along with cross-cultural considerations
* Additional materials available on the Web

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, Second Edition offers a comprehensive and accessibly written introduction that is ideal for use in undergraduate and master's level courses in family violence, domestic violence, and abuse offered in departments of sociology, psychology, social work, counseling, and criminal justice.

(20060525)

Author: Ola W. Barnett, Cindy Miller-Perrin, Robin Perrin
Paperback:  576 pages
Company: Sage Publications, Inc  (2004-05-18)
ISBN: 0761927565
List Price: $69.95
Amazon Price: $58.75
Used Price: $47.90

It's difficult to imagine a harder first act to follow than The Kite Runner: a debut novel by an unknown writer about a country many readers knew little about that has gone on to have over four million copies in print worldwide. But when preview copies of Khaled Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, started circulating at Amazon.com, readers reacted with a unanimous enthusiasm that few of us could remember seeing before. As special as The Kite Runner was, those readers said, A Thousand Splendid Suns is more so, bringing Hosseini's compassionate storytelling and his sense of personal and national tragedy to a tale of two women that is weighted equally with despair and grave hope.

We wanted to spread the word on the book as widely, and as soon, as we could. See below for an exclusive excerpt from A Thousand Splendid Suns and early reviews of the book from some of our top customer reviewers.--The Editors

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An Exclusive Excerpt from A Thousand Splendid Suns

We have arranged with the publisher to make an exclusive excerpt of A Thousand Splendid Suns available on Amazon.com. Click here to read a scene from the novel. It's not the opening scene, but rather one from a crucial moment later in the book when Mariam, one of the novel's two main characters, steps into a new role.

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Early Buzz from Amazon.com Top Reviewers

We queried our top 100 customer reviewers as of March 6, 2007, and asked them to read A Thousand Splendid Suns and share their thoughts. We've included these early reviews below in the order they were received. For the sake of space, we've only included a brief excerpt of each reviewer's response, but each review is available for reading in its entirety by clicking the "Read the review" link.

Joanna Daneman: "His style is deceptively simple and clear, the characters drawn deftly and swiftly, his themes elemental and huge. This is a brilliant writer and I look forward to more of his work." Read Joanna Daneman's review

Seth J. Frantzman: "Khaled Hosseini has done it again with 'A Thousand Splendid Sons', presenting a new, dashing and dark tale of two generations of women trapped in a loveless marriage, bracketed by great events." Read Seth J. Frantzman's review

Donald Mitchell: "Khaled Hosseini has succeeded in capturing many important historical and contemporary themes in a way that will make your heart ache again and again. Why will your reaction be so strong? It's because you'll identify closely with the suffering of almost all the characters, a reaction that's very rare to a modern novel." Read Donald Mitchell's review

Lawrance M. Bernabo: "All things considered, following up on a successful first novel is probably harder than coming up with the original effort and Hosseini could have rested on his laurels in the manner of Harper Lee, but as "A Thousand Splendid Suns" amply proves, this native of Kabul has more stories to tell about the land of Afghanistan." Read Lawrance M. Bernabo's review

Amanda Richards: "There are parts of this book that will have grown men surreptitiously blotting the tears that are on the verge of overflowing their ducts, and by the time you get to the middle, you won't be able to put it down. Hosseini's simple but richly descriptive prose makes for an engrossing read, and in my opinion, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is among the best I have ever read. This is definitely not one to be missed." Read Amanda Richards's review

N. Durham: "All that being said, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a bit more enjoyable than Hosseini's previous "The Kite Runner", and once again he manages to give we readers another glimpse of a world that we know little about but frequently condemn and discard. However, if you were one of the many that for some reason absolutely loved "The Kite Runner", chances are that you'll love this as well." Read N. Durham's review

John Kwok: "Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a genuine instant literary classic, and one destined to be remembered as one of 2007's best novels. It should be compared favorably to such legendary Russian novels like "War and Peace" and "Doctor Zhivago"." Read John Kwok's review

Thomas Duff: "Normally I'm more of an action-adventure type reader when it comes to novels and recreational reading. But I was given the chance to read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), so I decided to try something out of my normal genre. I am *so* glad I did. This is a stunning and moving novel of life and love in Afghanistan over a 30 year period." Read Thomas Duff's review

Charles Ashbacher: "This book manages to simultaneously capture the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years and how women are treated in conservative Islamic societies.... In many ways it is a sad book, your heart goes out to these two women in their hopeless struggle to have a decent life with a brutal man in an unforgiving, intolerant society." Read Charles Ashbacher's review

W. Boudville: "Hosseini presents a piognant view into the recent tortured decades of the Afghan experience. From the 1970s, under a king, to the Soviet takeover, to the years of resistance. And then the rise and fall of the Taliban. An American reader will recognise many of the main political events. But to many Americans, Afghanistan and its peoples and religion remain an opaque and troubling mystery." Read W. Boudville's review

Mark Baker: "I tend to read plot heavy books, so this character study was a definite change of pace for me. I found the first half slow going at times, mainly because I knew where the story was going. Once I got into the second half, things really picked up. The ending was very bittersweet. I couldn't think of a better way to end it." Read Mark Baker's review

Grady Harp: "Hosseini takes us behind those walls for forty some years of Afghanistan's bloody history and while he does not spare us any of the descriptions of the terror that continues to besiege that country, he does offer us a story that speaks so tenderly about the fragile beauty of love and devotion and lasting impression people make on people." Read Grady Harp's review

Robert P. Beveridge: "When I was actively reading it, the pages kept turning, and more than once I found myself foregoing food or sleep temporarily to get in just one more chapter. When I had put it down, however, I felt no particular compulsion to pick it back up again. It's a good book, and a relatively well-written one, but it's not a great book. Enjoyable without leaving a lasting impression." Read Robert P. Beveridge's review

B. Marold: "While the events in Afghanistan and the wider world create a familiar framework for the stories of these two women, it is nothing more than a framework. The warp and weft of everyday life, and the interaction of the two women and their close relatives is the heartbeat of the story." Read B. Marold's review

Daniel Jolley: "Khaled Hosseini has written a majestic, sweeping, emotionally powerful story that provides the reader with a most telling window into Afghan society over the past thirty-odd years. It's also a moving story of friendship and sacrifice, giving Western readers a rare glimpse into the suffering and mistreatment of Afghan women that began long before the Taliban came to power." Read Daniel Jolley's review

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Author: Khaled Hosseini
Hardcover:  372 pages
Company: Riverhead  (2007-05-22)
ISBN: 1594489505
List Price: $25.95
Amazon Price: $10.75
Used Price: $8.92

"He doesn't mean to hurt me-he just loses control."
"He can be sweet and gentle."
"He's scared me a few times, but he never hurts the children-he's a great father."
"He's had a really hard life..."

Women in abusive relationships tell themselves these things every day. Now they can see inside the minds of angry and controlling men-and change their own lives. In this groundbreaking book, a counselor shows how to improve, survive, or leave an abusive relationship, with:

€ The early warning signs
€ Nine abusive personality types
€ How to tell if an abuser can change, is changing, or ever will
€ The role of drugs and alcohol
€ What can be fixed, and what can't
€ How to leave a relationship safely

Author: Lundy Bancroft
Paperback:  432 pages
Company: Berkley Trade  (2003-09-02) (2003-09-02)
ISBN: 0425191656
List Price: $16.00
Amazon Price: $8.97
Used Price: $9.14

Bestselling author Joyce Meyer explores the true path to emotional healing through God's love. Many people seem to have it all together outwardly, but inside they are falling apart,crushed and wounded by their past. But God has a plan to heal the broken-hearted and the victims of abuse. For over 30 years, Joyce Meyersuffered the devastating effects of verbal, sexual, and physical abuse. Today, she has a worldwide ministry of emotional healing for others like herself. In BEAUTY FOR ASHES, she outlines the major truths that brought healing to her life and describes how other victims of abuse can also experience this healing, including how to deal with the emotional pain of abuse, how to understand your responsibility to God for overcoming abuse, why victims of abuse often suffer from other addictive behaviors, how to grab hold of God's unconditional love, and the importance of God's timing in working through painful memories. By sharing her personal story, Joyce Meyer wants to help others find inner peace through their belief in God.

Author: Joyce Meyer
Paperback:  272 pages
Company: FaithWords  (2003-11-01)
ISBN: 044669259X
List Price: $12.99
Amazon Price: $6.25
Used Price: $1.15

Each hour, 75 women are raped in the United States, and every few seconds, a woman is beaten. Each day, 400 Americans suffer shooting injuries, and another 1,100 face criminals armed with guns. Author Gavin de Becker says victims of violent behavior usually feel a sense of fear before any threat or violence takes place. They may distrust the fear, or it may impel them to some action that saves their lives. A leading expert on predicting violent behavior, de Becker believes we can all learn to recognize these signals of the "universal code of violence," and use them as tools to help us survive. The book teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. The case studies are gripping and suspenseful, and include tactics for dealing with similar situations.

People don't just "snap" and become violent, says de Becker, whose clients include federal government agencies, celebrities, police departments, and shelters for battered women. "There is a process as observable, and often as predictable, as water coming to a boil." Learning to predict violence is the cornerstone to preventing it. De Becker is a master of the psychology of violence, and his advice may save your life. --Joan Price

Author: Gavin De Becker
Paperback:  384 pages
Company: Dell  (1999-05-11) (1999-05-11)
ISBN: 0440508835
List Price: $15.00
Amazon Price: $8.46
Used Price: $8.40

When the personality is rigid to the point of being unable to change in reaction to changing circumstances - we say that it is disordered. Such a person takes behavioral, emotional, and cognitive cues exclusively from others. His inner world is, so to speak, vacated. His True Self is dilapidated and dysfunctional. Instead he has a tyrannical and delusional False Self. Such a person is incapable of loving and of living. He cannot love others because he cannot love himself. He loves his reflection, his surrogate self. And he is incapable of living because life is a struggle towards, a striving, a drive at something. In other words: life is change. He who cannot change cannot live.

The narcissist is an actor in a monodrama, yet forced to remain behind the scenes. The scenes take center stage, instead. The Narcissist does not cater at all to his own needs. Contrary to his reputation, the Narcissist does not "love" himself in any true sense of the word.

He feeds off other people, who hurl back at him an image that he projects to them. This is their sole function in his world: to reflect, to admire, to applaud, to detest - in a word, to assure him that he exists. Otherwise, the narcissist feels, they have no right to tax his time, energy, or emotions.

The main body of research about Narcissism is surveyed in the book.

Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Re-Visited offers a detailed, first hand account of what it is like to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It contains new insights and an organized methodological framework. The first part of the book comprises more than 100 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding relationships with abusive narcissists and the Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Author: Sam Vaknin
Paperback:  600 pages
Company: Narcissus Publications,Czech Republic  (2001-07)
ISBN: 8023833847
List Price: $49.95
Amazon Price: $49.95
Used Price: $52.94

Author: Janine Latus
Hardcover:  320 pages Bargain Price
Company: Simon & Schuster  (2007-04-17)
List Price: $25.00
Amazon Price: $4.99
Used Price: $3.98

Are you now, or have you ever been, in relationships with family, friends, or mates who have been verbally abusive? Is your happiness with someone you love continually threatened by interactions that continually undermine your self-esteem? Do you feel trapped in a relationship that keeps decaying in a downward spiral of overt or passive-aggressive abuse?

If so, this book could be your life raft, either carrying you toward repair of the existing relationship or the effects of past relationships or offering liberation from your current confusion. Its practical approach can help clear your head and possibly change your life. The only criticism that I and other readers have is that the author assumes verbal abuse is almost always directed by males toward females, which, in my experience and that of others I know, is not necessarily the case. Highly Recommended.

Author: Patricia Evans
Paperback:  222 pages
Company: Adams Media  (2003-02-01)
ISBN: 1558505822
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $6.00
Used Price: $3.82

Author: Louis Paul Priolo
Paperback:  160 pages
Company: Timeless Texts  (2000-09-30)
ISBN: 1889032204
List Price: $12.00
Amazon Price: $8.16
Used Price: $8.78

Those who have never experienced an abusive or violent relationship often believe that upon finding her way out, a victim's difficulties are solved: her life is good, she is safe, and her recovery will be swift. Survivors know that leaving is not the end of the nightmare, it is the beginning of a difficult journey toward healing and happiness. It's My Life Now offers readers the practical guidance, emotional reassurance, and psychological awareness that female survivors of relationship abuse and domestic violence need to heal and reclaim their lives after leaving their abusers. Since its publication in 2000, It's My Life Now has been highly successful as a working manual for women who are starting their lives over after an abusive relationship, combining guidance on practical and emotional issues with worksheets and self-exploration exercises. In the second edition, Dugan and Hock include updated information and resources while encompassing a wider range of individuals.

Author: Meg Kennedy Dugan, Roger R. Hock
Paperback:  256 pages
Company: Brunner-Routledge  (2006-05-05)
ISBN: 0415953251
List Price: $18.95
Amazon Price: $11.66
Used Price: $12.89